The Richmond Cottage property, which was built in 1848, will be torn down if it doesn't find a buyer by May 2017. (Bruce Tilley/CBC)

St. John’s city council wants to encourage developers to be responsible with their demolition and make sure valuable artifacts in heritage homes don’t end up in the trash when such homes are demolished.

A recommendation came from the Built Heritage Experts panel to encourage developers to give people a chance to save valuable materials inside heritage homes, should they have to be demolished in the future.

Development lead Coun. Maggie Burton says council isn’t trying to encourage the demolition of heritage homes, but rather trying to make sure historical items are saved should a home face the backhoe.

“In the case of Richmond Cottage, that beautiful spiral staircase in the middle of the home, perhaps that could have been repurposed and put into a new building somewhere else,” she said.

Editors Notes: Photo is from a May 2017 CBC story. see, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/richmond-cottage-deadline-1.3991313